TetZooCon this year was a two day event that took place at UCL on the 6th and 7th October. Unfortunately, due to health reasons I was unable to attend the last day - though I did follow it on twitter using the hashtag #TetZooCon. If you’ve never heard of TetZooCon or Darren Naish’s famous Tetrapod Zoology blog (aka Tet Zoo), you are seriously missing out. TetZooCon is an annual meeting that features talks and workshops on topics explored in the Tet Zoo blog.

As herpetology is my main area of interest, it’s no surprise that I was very much looking forward to Mark O’Shea’s talk on his latest paper dealing with forensic historical herpetology and, of course, my good friend Steve Allain’s presentation about his upcoming PhD research on snake fungal disease. However, I have to say that I enjoyed all of it! TetZooCon 2018 seemed to have something for everyone, from Palaeoart Workshops to composer Fiona Taylor’s talk about music for wildlife documentaries, it’s fair to say that if you like animals in general, you’d have enjoyed it!

Focusing back on the talks for a minute, I was really looking forward to Lucy Cooke’s talk on her latest book ‘The Unexpected Truth About Animals’. Having read the book and watched interviews with Lucy before, I knew it was going to be an entertaining talk. Lucy is incredibly funny and I love the whole ‘women power’ feel of her talks. Also, let me take this opportunity to fan girl a bit and brag about how she gave me a ‘Sloth Appreciation Society’ pin…what can I say…sloths are cute and something about haters are gonna hate bla bla bla.

Lucy Cooke making us all laugh by sharing her love for the endearing Sloth | Credit: Talita Bateman

Speaking of women power, I cannot leave out Katrina van Grouw’s talk on her ‘Unnatural Selection’ book, which by the way has some beautiful illustrations, and Jennifer Jackson’s incredible presentation on Baleen Whales…honestly, I came out of that talk with a whole new appreciation for whales and whale conservation research!

Katrina van Grouw presenting her talk on her latest book ‘Unnatural Selection: Evolution at the Hand of Man’ | Credit: Talita Bateman

As I previously mentioned, I was really looking forward to Mark O’Shea’s talk and he very kindly signed all the books I’d been carrying around the event with me! Let’s just say that my bag was a tad heavy…! Mark’s presentation was just as you’d expect a Mark O’Shea talk to be like, (1) passionate about snakes, (2) incredibly interesting, methodical and accurate (3) and a dream come true to herpetologists. Having said that, Mark really needs to start sharing his secrets for having luscious locks…I mean, have you seen Mr O’Shea’s hair?!

My signed copy of Mark O’Shea’s new book ‘The Book of Snakes’ | Credit: Talita Bateman

My signed copy of Mark O’Shea’s book ‘ Boas and Pythons of the World’ | Credit: Talita Bateman

I was also so glad to be able to be there for Ian Redmond’s talk about his work with apes and elephants! It was a pleasure to listen to his tales on dealing with the animals, the locals and poachers. He even read a few lines from his field notes - truly inspiring - aaaaaaand I got to meet Archie the Elephant so I feel like I just levelled up in life.

Ian Redmond talking about his work with Gorillas. | Credit: Talita Bateman

My signed copies of ‘Does it Fart?’ and ‘True or Poo?’ | Credit: Talita Bateman

Finally, I am really gutted that I missed the talks that took place on the second day, especially Robyn Womack’s talk on how birds tell the time, but I am already looking forward to TetZooCon 2019 - bring it on! A massive well done and thank you to Darren Naish, John Conway and Dani Rabaiotti who signed some of my favourite scicomm books ‘Does it Fart?’ and ‘True or Poo?’.

This week, the Science Museum in London hosted an event featuring Andrea Wulf's latest book 'The Invention of Nature: The adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt - the lost hero of science'. The event was organised by the British Society for the History of Science and was presented in a conversation format between Wulf herself and Gaia Vince, the author of 'Adventures in the Anthropocene'.

If I had to describe Hulboldt in just one word, it would be restless.

— Andrea Wulf

Wulf started off by describing what motivated her to write about Humboldt. She briefly covered her travels to the same places he visited and her research into both his personal life and career goals. She discussed Humboldt's passion for nature and his then novel vision of nature as a living organism. She talked about his upbringing, personal connections and personality flaws. She reminded everyone of a man who viewed nature as a fragile ecosystem that could be easily destroyed by human actions. A man, who Wulf described as 'the bridge between the sciences and the arts'.

I have to say that I very much appreciate how this was refreshingly presented from a female's perspective. I felt that having Gaia there made the conversation flow in a natural and relaxed way. It was also pretty amusing to have their views on not only Humboldt himself, but also a time in which science was entirely dominated by males. That's not to say that the focus of the talk was feminism - in fact, I don't believe that they explicitly mentioned gender inequality during the presentation at all. However, I would be lying if I told you that my feminist side didn't appreciate an all-female panel talk on an award winning book, written by a female author about a male scientist and explorer.

It was fun to hear about Humboldt's connection to South America. I had wondered why he hadn't crossed into Brazil, especially considering the areas of South America that he had explored. However, after reading the book and listening to Wulf talk about the passport granted to him by the Spanish king, that little mystery was solved. It was also interesting to hear that Humboldt never managed to go to India. It seems that his critique of the Spanish ruling in South America was definitely a barrier to getting the consent from the British.

I won't say much more about the book itself as I genuinely think that it's worth a read. I think that Wulf did an incredible job and I'm looking forward to seeing what else she comes up with - bring it on!

How often have you read an article that takes a piece of scientific research, misinterprets the evidence presented and blows the results way out of proportion? The titles of such articles tend to be the sensationalist types, using explosive statements that are guaranteed to get the general public's attention, aka 'click bait'. This is pretty much what Ford's presentation sounded like - a bunch of decisive, explosive and sensationalist statements that in reality, meant absolutely nothing.

On the 15th March, Conway Hall hosted what was supposed to be a debate between Brian J Ford and Dr Darren Naish. Ford is about to publish a book in which he argues that all dinosaurs were, in fact, aquatic. Yes, you read it right - ALL dinosaurs. Now, to call it a debate would be generous. That implies that both sides had well researched and founded arguments, which wasn't the case. In fact, it felt very much like an argument between a sensible adult and a petulant child throwing a tantrum - which is ironic considering how many times Ford accused palaeontologists (in general) of being childish and simple-minded.

You may think that I am being unfair and that my post isn't objective enough, and you're right, it isn't. In fact, it cannot be. Ford encouraged the palaeontology community to 'embrace a new concept' with absolutely no evidence to back it up - except for a few cartoons. He was unable to accept or discuss real evidence and seemed to imply that the idea that dinosaurs were aquatic was both new and his. Naish addressed this head-on in his first presentation slide, showing that the same idea had originated years ago and been subsequently dismissed.

Brian J Ford | Credit: Talita Bateman

Dr Darren Naish (feat. Chameleons s2) | Credit: Talita Bateman

Ford essentially cherry-picked any data that vaguely supported his argument and ignored any evidence that went against it. If I were to summarise some of my favourite Ford v Naish moments, where Ford tells us how current concepts are wrong and so "his" idea must be correct - apparently by default - they would be as follows:

Ford: Dinosaurs are too big and couldn't possibly cope with their weight - enter big mammals analogy. Also, they had long tails that are not needed if they were terrestrial. Therefore, they must have been aquatic.Naish: Should we just ignore current anatomical and morphological evidence including the Caudofemoralis longus muscle then?

Ford: No reptile has ever evolved a system for warming themselves up - enter link to how our notions of the climate back then are incorrect. Therefore, they must have been aquatic.Naish: Huh? So, we're ignoring any mammals or bird descendants of reptiles then? Awesome.

Ford: Some dinosaurs have 'fin-like' structures - enter Spinosaurus data. Therefore, they must ALL have been aquatic.Naish: Ok, so maybe we finally have a semblem of an argument here (maybe). I'm assuming we're ignoring the significant anatomical differences between a fish's dorsal fins and a Spinosaurus sail? Also, chameleons...no?

Ford: Some dinosaurs were duck-like and so must have lived like ducks in water.Naish: Hadrosaurids were not actually "duck-billed" and let's not forget that evidence confirms a tree-based diet.

Casper and the stegosaurus | Credit: Talita Bateman

Overall, the debate wasn't much of a debate at all. It was worth it just to hear more about dinosaurs from Darren but all I got from Ford was a big sales pitch. On a positive note, however, Ford's old school PowerPoint animations were pretty spectacular! I haven't seen someone use bouncing green ticks on a slide since I was in Year 7. Forget about dinosaurs and science, Brian. Start a #BringPowerPointAnimationsBack trend!